Chapter 6: The Life of the Chosen
Cloud:
He ran, faster and harder than he had ever run before in his life. The breath was steadily leaving his lithe frame, but he didn't care anymore. He didn't care about much of anything...anything, except getting to Sephiroth before he, or whatever controlled his mind, did something crazy.
The labyrinth passages of the Shin-Ra basement never seemed to end – the spiraling passage ways spun round and round, linking together what seemed to be all of eternity.
He stumbled up the steps, racing against time, gaining ground slowly in his flight towards the outside. Left, right, left again, up the stairs...there didn't seem to be an end...
Finally, he reached the top of a staircase, one that lead back into the mansion itself. He looked around – Grey was gone; there was no sign of him.
Panic flooded through Cloud – where had he gone? Grey was not someone easily taken...unless it had been...Sephiroth...
Cloud began to run again, this time heading for the entrance. There was no time – Sephiroth had lost his mind, and now he was loose...
...he was out there, close to everything that Cloud held dear...
...no...I will not let you, Sephiroth...you will have to go through me first...
As he sprinted to the outside world, doubt began to gnaw at Cloud Strife's heart. He knew it, he believed it...that he could stop Sephiroth...he felt it in his soul...
...but deep in his mind, he knew that hope would fail when brought up against this man...this man that had once known so well...
~{:*:}~
The first sensation that hit him upon entering the night air of Nibelheim was the intense heat. In fact, it was more than that – smoke rose everywhere, its thick black veil so shrouded that Cloud couldn't discern anything. He stumbled forward, coughing out the dark plague that swirled around him. What was going on here...?
He pushed forward, suddenly finding a break in the cloud. And what he saw took his remaining breath away.
His town...Nibelheim...it was still there, but...it was now...engulfed in flame...all of it, burning...burning, its ashes falling silently to the ground...
He tried to breath, but the combination of shock, surprise, and large amounts of noxious fumes brought his air to a halt.
How...how...? How did this...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
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... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
No, Sephiroth, he thought. No...you've gone too far...no...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ...no... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Cloud bounded down from the steps of the Shin-Ra mansion, leaping over piles of flame that crept into his path.
He reached the fountain in the middle of the town square; he stood, disbelief pouring from his body as he looked at the wreckage of his home.
He saw bodies littered on the ground – he ran up to one and bent down to feel its pulse.
Nothing. There was nothing...
He fell to the ground, shaking his head as tears fell from his eyes. How could he have done this...? What could have driven him to it...?
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...(*Hiss*)... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ...you know... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Cloud's head snapped up as he felt...it. That energy. So powerful, so dangerous...so close by...
He looked around, searching, trying to find where it lay. Then...he saw what it was...and where it was coming from...
There he was. At the top of the stairs leading to the Shin-Ra mansion. And there in front of him was one of the townspeople...he was begging, on his knees...
Sephiroth's Mako green eyes glared, no emotion showing through the powerful exterior. In one move, he had his Masamune out and, with astonishing speed, the man was gone...
Cloud looked on, horrified. Sephiroth's power had been unleashed, and it seemed...it seemed as though he was no longer in control of it...
Cloud's heart turned to ice as Sephiroth's slender face gradually came up to meet his eyes. Once again, no emotion came through that bond...only silence, and the gentle but still present crackling of flaming destruction, still present everywhere...
Then, in an instant that seemed to last for eternity, Sephiroth swung around, silver hair swaying gently as he stepped through the flames that encircled him.
As he watched his master leave, Cloud felt a residual message sent by Sephiroth...
I'm going...to see my mother...
Cloud's anger rose. His mother. Who in the gods' names was his mother?!
Whoever she was, Cloud felt certain that she had played some part in the warping of Sephiroth's mind.
He was going to wherever she was...and, for the sake of his family, his friends, all he had ever known...
...he was going to follow Sephiroth, even if he was led into the depths of hell.
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Yeah, sorry, kind of a shorty, but it's been a while since I've put anything up (sorry), so this is meant to get me back into the swing of things.
~Cheers!!~
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